On Weibo’s trending list, half of the top ten topics were about Jiang Yu.
Yu Shiqing was eating when Ren Bai suddenly pushed his phone in front of his face. Even though he had run into Jiang Yu by accident that afternoon, he wasn’t interested in gossip. He took one look and pushed the phone aside, then picked up his bowl and continued flipping through the script on the table.
Ren Bai: “…”
He pushed the phone closer again. “Bro, look clearly. Your name is in this!”
“Hm?” Yu Shiqing flipped a page without even looking up. “What’s it got to do with me?”
Ren Bai simply played the video. “Watch this and you’ll know.”
Yu Shiqing finally glanced at the screen.
The video was playing. In the footage, two men were tightly embracing at the entrance of a hotel. From this clip alone, it looked like Jiang Yu who had been specifically labeled was the more enthusiastic one. He not only initiated the hug, but even knocked the other person a step backward. The whole scene looked quite intimate.
But that intimacy only existed from an outsider’s point of view.
Watching the video from the perspective of someone actually involved, Yu Shiqing couldn’t help but smile.
Jumping to conclusions was an old media trick. He didn’t expect it to go this far—making up a story from a random picture.
This wasn’t some mysterious romantic meeting between Jiang Yu and a mystery lover. It was clearly just an accident that happened when Yu Shiqing arrived at the hotel and bumped into Jiang Yu at the door. They barely exchanged a few words before going their separate ways, but the clip had been recorded and spread online with malicious intent.
Fortunately, Jiang Yu’s studio clarified things quickly. The post gained attention fast. While they were talking, the clarification post had already shot to number one on the trending list.
Ren Bai clicked it open and saw that the top discussion wasn’t about the truth. Instead, it was—
“Who’s Yu Shiqing?”
“Never heard of him. Is he just clout-chasing?”
“Yu Shiqing might be washed up now, but he was once a Best Actor. Still, doing this? If you want to stir hype, at least pick an omega. Isn’t this embarrassing?”
“Yu Shiqing got Best Actor from his first film, then nothing. After that, he spent years acting in trash films. Total has-been. No need to bother. Former fan here—disappointed. Just saying, riding on hype won’t work, he’s blind when choosing scripts, doomed to stay irrelevant. 😊”
Seeing this, Ren Bai quickly scrolled away and glanced at Yu Shiqing, who remained calm. He asked carefully, “You’re not mad?”
Yu Shiqing said flatly, “Why would I be mad? They’re not wrong.”
But Ren Bai felt uncomfortable.
‘It’s not like you got to choose your scripts,’ he wanted to say, but kept it in. Saying it wouldn’t change anything.
He held back his frustration and kept scrolling. Thankfully, the top liked comment under Jiang Yu Studio’s post brought him some comfort.
User “RainEveryYear”: “Here’s a quick intro for the gossip-hungry public [not so quick, actually 😅]:
Jiang Yu – musician. Debuted four years ago. Three-time champion in album sales. Three-time Best Male Singer. One of the world’s Top 100 most popular artists. Won Best Song of the Year and Best Arrangement four years in a row. Appeared on the cover of Global Times Men of the Year.
Yu Shiqing – actor. Debuted at 19 in Tomorrow Is Sunny, sweeping all three major domestic film awards and becoming the youngest ever to achieve a national Grand Slam Best Actor title. Twice crowned Best Actor internationally. Named the Most Handsome Asian Face by Global Times and appeared on their front page.”
[Image]
Ren Bai felt pleased and clicked into the comment’s thread to see how others reacted to Yu Shiqing’s achievements.
He was expecting to see awe, but instead—
“I’m shipping them!”
“I approve!”
“Top-on-top, I’m satisfied!”
“Please be together. Pretty please from a face lover!!”
“…”
Ren Bai’s smile froze. He slammed the phone down on the table and laughed awkwardly. “Never mind, let’s read something else.”
Yu Shiqing hadn’t had the chance to see those comments yet, but judging from Ren Bai’s reaction, he could guess they weren’t flattering. He didn’t say anything.
Ren Bai sighed in relief and secretly looked back at his phone. Just then, a new push notification popped up, and he read it out loud without thinking:
“Jiang Yu responds to dating rumors—angrily scolds reporter during interview.”
Yu Shiqing was setting his bowl down and reaching for the script when he heard that. Not long after, Ren Bai said again:
“Today’s media really don’t care about their faces anymore. That’s what they call ‘angrily scolding’?”
Yu Shiqing looked over at the phone Ren Bai handed him again.
Jiang Yu had just finished shooting and was doing a routine interview backstage. A reporter brought up the trending gossip and asked for his opinion.
Because Jiang Yu turned to look at the reporter, the camera didn’t catch his full face. But from the sharp profile and the glint in his eye, viewers could feel his strong presence.
Jiang Yu smirked faintly. “What do I think? I think some reporters can’t even write nonsense properly. Otherwise, how would rumors spread about me and Yu Shiqing—we’re both alphas?”
As soon as he said that, the room fell silent.
Ren Bai muttered bitterly, “Now that’s what confidence looks like.”
Yu Shiqing didn’t respond to his moment of envy.
“Oh, right,” Ren Bai suddenly remembered. “Since they interviewed Jiang Yu, maybe they’ll come to you too. Will you do it?”
Yu Shiqing said, “No.”
Jiang Yu’s studio had already explained everything clearly, with surveillance footage to prove it. Whether he responded or not didn’t matter.
Ren Bai wasn’t surprised. As Yu Shiqing’s half-hearted agent, he knew the man well. Yu Shiqing never did interviews. His answer was always “busy filming,” no exceptions in years.
Ren Bai was about to say more when his phone rang.
A strange number.
He muttered, “Speak of the devil…”
While he answered the call, Yu Shiqing looked away and continued reading his script.
When the call ended, Ren Bai said, “Can you stay for a bit? Someone wants to talk to you. They’ll be here soon.”
“What is it?” Yu Shiqing sat down on the empty seat nearby.
Ren Bai shook his head. “They didn’t say.”
Yu Shiqing gave a small nod.
The call hadn’t even lasted thirty seconds. No time for details.
Soon, someone came in.
A young man looked around and approached them.
“Hello, Mr. Yu. I’m Le Yang, from—”
Ren Bai, clearly annoyed by anything related to Huaze Media, cut him off. “Just say what you came for.”
Startled by his tone, Le Yang immediately became nervous. “The company asked me to inform Mr. Yu that the Dawn script has been slightly adjusted, and your role will be played by someone else.”
“What?!” Ren Bai slammed the table and stood up in anger. “Is this a joke?!”
Le Yang flinched.
Yu Shiqing also frowned and slowly stood up.
He had already met with the director of Dawn, done makeup tests, and was even invited personally last night to join the crew early. There had been no hint of a cast change. This news came out of nowhere.
“They’re replacing him in Dawn? Who decided that? Why?!” Ren Bai was furious, rage boiling inside.
He had seen how much Yu Shiqing cared about this role. Taking the job had been hard enough, especially with Huaze’s manipulations. Now that it was finally starting, they pulled this?
“The company told me to say this…” Le Yang stepped back and swallowed nervously.
“You—”
“Enough.” Yu Shiqing raised a hand to stop Ren Bai. He looked at Le Yang. “Anything else?”
“Yes, yes!” Seeing that Yu Shiqing wasn’t angry, Le Yang relaxed a little and quickly took something out of his bag. But when he looked up and met Yu Shiqing’s eyes, his hand froze.
Unlike Ren Bai’s open fury, Yu Shiqing showed no anger. But his calm eyes were deep and unreadable. His indifferent face carried a quiet pressure that made Le Yang sweat.
Ren Bai saw him freeze and snapped, “Where is it?”
Le Yang’s fingers trembled as he finally handed it over. “Here!”
He explained, “This is a new script the company picked for Mr. Yu, as compensation.”
Doomsday Rescue.
Ren Bai exploded as soon as he read the title. “What kind of joke is Huaze playing?!”
Doomsday Rescue was marketed as a sci-fi blockbuster, but it was just a gimmick-filled mess. The script was all special effects, and they said they were hiring a trending idol as the lead, plus a TV drama director.
Fan-based casting was out of date. This was a recipe for disaster.
And if they were hiring a trending idol, there was no way Yu Shiqing was the lead.
Ren Bai gritted his teeth. “So, who’s replacing Yu Shiqing in Dawn?”
“I… I don’t know…” Le Yang stammered.
Ren Bai wanted to ask more, but Yu Shiqing had already taken the Doomsday Rescue script and looked as calm as ever.
Yu Shiqing told Le Yang, “That’s all. You can go.”
“Mr. Yu, the crew for Doomsday Rescue is nearby. You’ll be doing makeup tests tomorrow.” Le Yang said nervously, bowed quickly, and fled.
Yu Shiqing stood in place, looked at the two scripts in his hands, then handed Dawn to Ren Bai.
“Throw it out,” he said.
Ren Bai looked down at the old, worn script, full of notes, then looked back at Yu Shiqing. His heart ached.
“Shiqing…”
After three years, they finally had hope—but now, that hope was gone again.
What kind of torture was this for a once-brilliant talent like Yu Shiqing?
Yu Shiqing smiled. “Still not used to it?”
Ren Bai bit his lip and didn’t speak.
“Going to set tomorrow. Get some rest,” Yu Shiqing said.
Ren Bai turned away to hide his red eyes and nodded silently.
Yu Shiqing left the restaurant and returned to the hotel room.
He sat down on the sofa, opened the new script, and reached for his pen. But when he saw where the pen was placed, he paused.
Before going downstairs for dinner, he remembered putting the pen beside the wine bottle. Now, it was between the bottle and the glass.
He looked around the room, his eyes narrowing.
Though it was a suite, unusually generous, it shouldn’t have anything fishy going on.
Maybe he remembered wrong.
Yu Shiqing rubbed his nose, poured a glass of wine, and drank it in one gulp.
The alcohol burned going down. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes for a moment before continuing to read.
When he poured a second glass and took a small sip, he noticed a faint, sweet scent in the wine.
Yu Shiqing frowned.
He suddenly realized that a heat was rising inside him. The wine’s sweet smell acted like a catalyst, setting the heat ablaze through his veins.
He set down the glass and pushed himself up from the chair.
Boom—
His alpha pheromones exploded in the room like a silent storm, cold and oppressive, sweeping out from him in all directions.
A red gleam filled his eyes.
His heat had begun.
Suddenly—
A soft sound.
Yu Shiqing spun around.
There was someone outside the door!
